Therese, Thanks for your comment. That's interesting that 100% of your clients come from Facebook. I can't recall meeting a business like yours. It's great that the platform is working so well for you. I can see though that you are open to developing your presence on other growing platforms, which is wise since all good things must come to an end. Thus, it's good to have a Plan B. Good luck!
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Whenever I tell people I’m taking the family to southern California for a vacation they ask if I’m headed to Disneyland. Since I have young kids it’s a natural assumption. However, my answer is invariably, no. My kids, being 6 and 9, are still very much within the target demographic, but there are a few issues we can’t seem to get over. The first one is my kids vehemently dislike standing in line for longer than 15 minutes. A friend recently took his family to Disneyland and reported to me that they waited almost 90 minutes to ride one of the new attractions in Cars Land. Typically when I take the family to an amusement park we spend 6 hours or so before we are all tuckered out. Hmm, that math is not pretty. The other issue, which is primarily mine, is the pricing. Disneyland raised their rates earlier this year. They are now offering even more Disneyland than ever so it does make sense. Despite the hike there are still gobs of people visiting. Facebook: What Has Changed? Come with me now to Facebook as a small business. It’s a great place to be, right? You have probably heard it said that your customers or prospects are there. You just need to find the formula to reach them. It used to be that creativity was the formula along with an emotional connection. That’s what I used to teach people who asked me how to succeed on Facebook. I told them that since you are competing with wedding pictures, an Ivy League college acceptance letter, and the announcement of a baby you had better be really creative and touch the hearts of your fans. The rules have now changed. According to a recent article from Ad Age Facebook openly admits they are purposefully reducing exposure to posts from brands in the news feed. On my own Page I have noticed a drop in reach since the latest change. The line just got longer to ride our favorite ride: fan engagement. Facebook makes the solid argument that there is just too much information heading to news feed for anyone to actually process what they signed up for. This is hard to argue against. The line is not getting any shorter any time soon either. Jay Baer recently pointed out that usage of Facebook is not going down. It is as engaging as ever. But are you? How do you get more engagement in the new war for attention in news feed? Some experts including Jon Loomer aver that in order to combat the lack of reach and visibility one tactic is to post more frequently. There are two problems with this advice from my perspective: Most small businesses can barely come up with one post a day, much less 3 or 4. Time and lack of creative items to post are major problems. What happens when your favorite restaurant – or amusement park – gets more crowded? Now I am not saying that Jon is giving bad advice. It is working for him and many other brands on Facebook. But, imagine if even a quarter of the small businesses on Facebook measurably increased their posts on Facebook? It will be a good thing that invariably leads to a bad thing – standing room only or put another way, the Twitterfication of Facebook. Look, I can see the writing on the wall. It is just going to get more crowded on Facebook for the foreseeable future. There are still plenty of larger businesses with plenty of budget to spend on Facebook Ads and professional community managers who can post creative content 3, 4, even 6 times a day. The party is just getting started in some ways and it will go on for years. Facebook is still a toddler. Bottom line is I strongly recommend that small business marketers get a Plan B underway. Do not wait until you are so frustrated that you turn away from social media altogether. Stick with Facebook, but start to meaningfully cultivate a presence and following on another network. My top choices are YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn. Each of these networks has plenty of users with no filtering of content that I know of. As for YouTube they have nearly as many eyeballs as Facebook. The icing on the cake is that small business is still largely ignoring the YouTube opportunity. As for my next southern California vacation, we will be stopping by Knotts Berry Farm and Magic Mountain. Never heard of them? Perfect. I would love to hear your thoughts on using Facebook for small business marketing. Please leave your comments below. By the way, I am there and not leaving. I find it a fun daily diversion for a few minutes.
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Many small businesses will create a single video to promote their products or services and post it up to YouTube, essentially creating a channel. A portion of these understand that a single video is unlikely to cause a breakout on the network and seek to post multiple clips. I’m firmly in the latter camp. And this is why I've created my own YouTube channel. Once you've created a channel it’s great vehicle to link to from a website, newsletter or social network like Twitter. However, it’s also of value to have regular YouTube users who want to be notifed when you post new video content. These people are called Subscribers and they have opted in to be notified by subscribing to your channel. As with followers, likes, connections, etc., the more subscribers the better. YouTube is trying to help channel owners to get more subs with a few new features you should know about and apply to build your subscriber base. Incidentally, none of these are brand new, but I still see a LOT of channel owners not using them. First up is the new cover image. YouTube gives you a lot of real estate to play with to make a great first impression and entice people to subscribe. Use what you have in glorious color or unexpected black and white to draw people in. Here's my cover image as an example. Here's another example from one of my public speaking coaches, Patricia Fripp. She really uses the space well and has fabulous color in there. Next is the channel trailer. This video slot is front and center beneath your cover image and its sole purpose is to show visitors why they should subscribe. Note that this video will only be presented to visitors who aren’t yet subscribed. Once they do this video will be invisible. As with the cover image put your best foot forward. Here's how my trailer looks. Pretty simple, but it doesn't need to be fancy. Just focus on good lighting, clean sound and a clear message. Now let us move away from YouTube for a moment to your website. There’s a new button you can place there that invites visitors to subscribe with a click. Chances are you get more visitors to your website than your YouTube channel. Therefore, it makes great sense to let website visitors know that you have a channel. Here is what that little button looks like on my website. If you would like to add this button to your website and do not know how, here is an article from Mashable that explains how to do it. The last new feature brings us back to YouTube and is a more indirect way to build subscribers. In the upper right of the layout is an area where you can feature a few other channels. This is akin to a blog roll and helps you look connected on the network. If those channels you feature are willing to feature you in kind, then it serves as just another way to create exposure and interest in your channel. Just be sure you are working with active channels or this tactic will bear little fruit. Here is a quick look at what that looks like on my channel. Notice that each channel has handly little Subscribe button right beneath it. YouTube presents huge potential for small businesses to reach a larger target audience. Support your effort to employ video marketing with these new features and you’ll surely reach more people. Please share any tips you have or questions in the Comments section below.
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You have probably heard the term drip marketing before. It makes you think of a series of automated messages that go to anyone interested in your product. The beauty of this vehicle is that it never sleeps. The term email marketers use for drip marketing is autoresponders. This is a series of scheduled emails that go out over a period once someone joins a mailing list. Autoresponders achieve these aims for the professional email marketer: 1. They give someone an incentive to join your mailing list. Unfortunately "Join our mailing list" has lost its attraction. 2. They start the selling process before a new subscriber even gets their first newsletter. You gotta love that. 3. They ensure the newly added person does not forget about joining the list. Think about it: If you only send out one newsletter a month and someone signs up the day after you sent out your last newsletter, it is going to be a while before they get your next one. By that time they might forget they ever signed up for your list and, therefore, unsubscribe when they get your first newsletter, or worse, hit the Spam button. 4. They develop your authority in the minds of the recipients. Autoresponders should feature your best content, which then impresses upon the reader that you know a thing or two about your business. 5. They get shared and forwarded since they are your best material. 6. They make you look really professional. The reality is that most email marketers are not using autoresponders. For some reason they do not get how to set them up or think it is just too difficult. Thus, they skip this step and leave it to you to set yourself apart as a polished pro. Believe me when I say that you are missing out on a big part of professional email marketing if you neglect to set up an autoresponder series. Within Constant Contact, my preferred email solution, you can set up as many as 10 emails in a series. You can set them up to go out with just about any interval you want. I recommend one week apart and schedule somewhere around 4 or 5. That is a good number and puts plenty of content in action. Be sure to use the same template or something very similar to your current newsletter so there is no loss in branding from one email to the next. You want to look professional. And avoid including any content that is time-sensitive. The reality is that once you set it, you are going to forget it and you want the content to last for a while. One cautionary note: With Constant Contact, if someone unsubscribes from the autoresponder, they are leaving your mailing list. So, make sure it is really good content! So, I hope I have convinced you that you should be using autoresponders. They are an included service with a Constant Contact email marketing account and I suspect they are included with most professional email marketing services. This means it is not about money but time. Block out an hour on your calendar in the next week and meet with a teammate to brainstorm about what type of content would get people excited to sign up to receive. In some cases new subscribers will be more excited about your bonus content than your newseltter! If you would like a sample of an autoresponder series of just two emails, you can join my list on my website to trigger mine. My other website has a series of five emails set up and I even created an animated video to promote it. If you have questions about setting them up or what content to place in there, please post them below. I would also like to hear of any additional tips you have regarding the use of autoresponders.
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I frequently have conversations with small business owners about Yelp. These chats are sometimes joyful, but more often they are filled with some confusion, frustration and hope. It all comes down to reviews: how many are there, how high’s the star count, and are they filtered or not. For established consumer-facing businesses with lots of positive reviews, Yelp is just about their best friend. This is because Yelp can drive massive traffic. Yelp is now the 29th most visited site in the US according to Alexa.com If a business doesn’t have enough reviews though – like mine with one, Yelp’s doing just about nothing. I’m not too worried about it because my business is more of a B2B and even Yelp admits they’re not nearly as strong at helping B2B’s drive serious leads. What if you’re a B2C and you want more reviews from your satisfied customers who regularly tell you to your face how much they like your business? Shouldn’t you ask them to write a review for you on Yelp? Maybe you could make it easy by having a laptop connected to Yelp right in your lobby? Why it’s not a good idea to ask for Yelp reviews This is hard for me to recommend you pull back from asking for Yelp reviews because it seems like such a natural idea. In fact, I’ve done it! But not just for Yelp. I’ve asked for LinkedIn Recommendations and Google reviews, too. I think the only thing I haven’t asked for is a Facebook recommendation. Does anyone really look at those? I digress. So, why shouldn’t you ask for Yelp reviews? The #1 reason is because the overwhelming majority of people using the internet aren’t Yelpers, that is, the people writing Yelp reviews. According to Yelp’s blog only 1% of the Yelp community actually write reviews. Another 9% will engage with them. The rest, some 90%, will read them. If this is true, and it’s probably pretty darn close since much of the social community works this way, what are the chances the customer you ask is going to be a Yelper? Slim at best. But what if your customer likes you so much that they want to do this for you as a favor to help your business? You encourage them to set up an account and write their first Yelp review for you. Guess what happens next? Their review is filtered because Yelp finds something fishy about the review or reviewer. That is the review just might gush too much or have too little detail about their engagement with your business or because they’re brand new to Yelp with no friends or prior reviews Yelp just decides that they were put up to the review by the business owner. The Filter Whoops, Yelp’s right! This is why they have the filter. If you’re not sure about what the filter is you can watch the short video referenced above about it. You see, Yelp figured out a long time ago that small business owners wouldn’t be able to resist putting their customers up to reviewing them. Thus, they created the filter. Incidentally, they also want to prevent disgruntled employees or competitors from having an artificial means of damaging a business by writing malicious reviews filled with lies. The filter works to block those reviews, too. The more I think about the more I realize that the filter’s a pretty smart idea. You could say it keeps us honest. If we know the odds of us getting a 5-star review just by asking are slim, it leaves us to just focus on doing the best we can to create so many happy customers that eventually we’ll please a Yelper. Just last week I was speaking to a speech therapist who had ¾ of her reviews filtered. What a shame I said. Her response was that she thinks that some of those reviews were written for her as something like a going away present when she chose to leave Southern California for the Bay Area. Interesting. By the way don’t believe even for a second that you can get Yelp to unfilter your reviews by paying them to advertise on the network. Yelp is so scrutinized for improper behavior after being in court more than a few times that they just aren’t going to do anything like that. Maybe there was a time, but those days are over. Yelp is clear to point out that plenty of advertising businesses have filtered reviews while those who don’t advertise have plenty of exposed reviews and are getting monthly leads. It’s true. What Can You Do? To get more Yelp reviews I fully recommend you do two things: 1. Have an outrageously great business; and 2. Set up your Yelp page and let customers know you have one. Put the Yelp logo on your website, in your newsletter, in your ads and so forth. By pointing people to your page you’ll naturally get reviews over time since you’re providing outstanding service paired with great products. This is exactly how Yelp wants you to do it. Play by their rules and you’re more likely to win. Have questions about Yelp? Please post them below in the Comments.
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Cidnee, I completely agree with you! It's no longer appropriate for most businesses to avoid Facebook marketing. In fact, ever since Facebook became a public company they have aggressively rolled out more and more options for marketers to get in front of their target audiences on the world's largest social network. There are ways to target people on Facebook that you can't duplcate with Google AdWords. It's definitely worthy a try as you say.
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Troy, You're welcome! Yes, it's a bad idea to request fake reviews to try to pump up your Yelp page. Yelp's filter is pretty tuned in to that and it's likely the reviews will go straight to the filter. If they are legitimate customers and they are frequent Yelpers, then it's likely their reviews will be visible.
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Twitter is picking up steam. Because they are not a public company we don’t know exactly how many accounts and active users there are. There is plenty of speculation though. According to Alexa they are now the 12 th ranked website in the world in traffic. This TechRadar article published earlier this year claims they are nearing 500 million accounts. So why is Twitter growing so fast? Because of its uniqueness and true value. While all the other major social networks keep adding this and that, Twitter just keeps chugging along at 140 characters a tweet. With the addition of Vine and cards, the stream has just gotten more interesting than before. Here’s why I think every business person in the world should have a Twitter account – it is your 3rd ear. The two ears you were born with are great for listening to conversations within, earshot. But Twitter, now this tool extends your hearing around the world. You can listen to any conversation happening on the social network anywhere unless it is coming from a private account – and who cares about those conversations anyway. Here are my favorite ways to ‘listen with Twitter’. A Tweetchat. Wow, you can eavesdrop on many conversations happening simultaneously by often very interesting people on any number of subjects. I wrote about the value of Tweet chats here a few months back. You can find a great directory of Tweet chats at Twubs. Checking out the trends along the left side of the tweet stream. Is it any wonder that #royalbaby is trending at #4 as of this writing? By just glancing at the trends list you can get a sense of what’s happening in the world. If you want to check trends elsewhere, then just click the Change link next to the Trends heading. Enter a keyword in to the search box and see what comes up. I entered in the keyword Advertising since I’m interested in that subject and found a whole column of interesting tweets I would have never come across on any other social network. Talk about diversity. I found an advertising job in South Africa and an article about advertisers in Tokyo imprinting ads on the thighs of young girls. Not kidding! Check out one of your lists. Twitter allows you to categorize people in to groups aka Lists so you can quickly scan the tweets of just a few folks. I have a bunch of lists. One of my favorites is the one below. I get to keep in touch with just the right people with this list. Notice the little lock? That means it is a private list and no one but me can see who is on it. Otherwise, lists can be public and anyone can see who the members are and even subscribe to it. You do not need to follow people to put them on a list. Think, My Competitors as a private list. Keyword streams with geocode in HootSuite. Every time I explain this listening tool to businesspeople they get excited. It is so cool. With HootSuite you can set up a Twitter stream dedicated to the use of a certain keyword in a specific geographical area. For example, I coach people in public speaking but only face to face. So, I have a dedicated stream for public speaking in the San Francisco area where I work. When I see someone saying how nervous they are about public speaking, I can send them a link to one of my helpful YouTube videos. It is all about being helpful when starting conversations. If you don’t care about geography, then dedicate a stream to a keyword without the geocode. The #Discover tab. On Twitter this is the third tab at the top. I think a lot of people skip over this one, but it is quite fun. It is like StumbleUpon meets Twitter. You just see an assortment of tweets that show actions being taken by those you follow. I clicked on it and found this tweet below, which features an expert I like featuring an article from an agency I like. Bam. Now for the good part in case you do not have a Twitter account, but are intrigued by what you have read. You do not even need to tweet to take advantage of these listening tools. You can set up an account and follow others, or put them in lists, and just listen away. Do research, catch up on breaking news, find interesting conversations to join, meet new people from halfway around the world. It is all there if you will just, listen. Let me know how you like to listen to Twitter in the comments below.
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What I always encounter when teaching people in small business is a hunger to know how to go about doing it right. What are the best practices? What mistakes should be avoided? Are there any hard and fast rules? From my experience I have found that it does make sense to follow some conventions. So, here's my list, which you are certainly free to pick apart, support, or add to. 1. Do spend time learning what you're doing. The internet provides limitless learning opportunities at little to no expense. Take advantage of them and spend some time learning about the social networks you want to use for your business. Having some education before you begin will serve you well. Incidentally, Constant Contact provides a wealth of resources right around you. 2. Don't speed on to the social network of choice, post your update, then speed off. Look, if you think that social media success if built upon you posting something promotional about your business with no engagement with people or other businesses, you have much to learn. That is an advertising mentality, not a social mindset. 3. Do understand the difference between paid, owned and earned media. Owned media is what you post to your network profiles. Earned media is when one of your fans or followers engages with one of your posts, which then creates exposure to their respective networks. It is good to have earned media and that is what most small business people think is the sole amplifier of their content. There is one more step though, which medium and large businesses all know and that is advertising on social platforms. All leading social networks offer ad vehicles. Learn about them and employ them to get more from your investment in social media. 4. Don't Like, RT, +1 and thumbs up all your posts all the time. I see some people just in love with their own content and this looks weird and narcissistic. Occasionally you will post something so awesome that you are compelled to like it when giving it a second look and that is fine. Just resist doing it constantly. 5. Do help others daily with Likes, Mentions, RTs, +1s, +Ks, Recommendations, Shares and Endorsements. Put the social element in to your daily routine and see your impact multiplied. 6. Don't be vapid. Quantity does not equal quality. This is true of volume of fans and your number of posts. If you don't have something good to post, then resist the urge to post something empty. As an example, I think #FF tweets have jumped the shark and now qualify as vapid. Add your comment if you disagree with me. 7. Do measure your efforts. There is simply no excuse for not using the numerous measurement tools that are out there. Whether it be a platforms built in tool or a 3rd party tool like HootSuite, Bit.ly, Buffer, LikeAlyzer or CrowdBooster, get used to looking at the numbers around what you are doing and making determinations about future efforts. 8. Don't fight with your negative posters. The recent 'epic social media meltdown on Facebook' reminded us all over again about what a bad idea this is. Avoid it at all costs or the cost to your online reputation will be high. Worse, your negativity will draw more and more people who will goad more embarrassing behavior from you. It is definitely a good way to go in to a death spiral. 9. Do try to reply to all legitimate comments. Is this hard? Yes, as your network grows it is. When you cannot handle it anymore, then you know it is time to get a community manager. It is sad to see how many companies still do not keep up with all the comments directed towards their brands. Do not be one of them. This is what it is all about! 10. Don't do the same thing over and over. Just because your picture of a sunset with a Gandhi quote written over it went viral does not mean you should rinse and repeat. Have you seen pages like this? Picture with overlaid quote again and again. Please! This also goes for your blog posts, pictures of you having lunch with your tweeps, and your latest awesome cupcake creation. Creativity and variety are the spice of social life. 11. Do use some 3rd party tools. Once you get the ropes with social media it is time to take it up a notch with some cool tools. Every leading platform has some. Twitter has more than I can count or keep up with. Here is a great new post with some tools to use with Facebook from Ian Cleary via Jon Loomer. I regularly recommend HootSuite, Buffer, Bit.ly and am pushing Newsle, SalesLoft and Rapportive lately. Just do a Google search for "Tools to use with X" with x being your favorite social network and you will find a list to start with. 12. Don't forget that social does not work in isolation. Combine it with email marketing to really amp up your ROI. When I went to Social Media Marketing World this past April I was not surprised to hear several of the speakers talking up using social to build your email lists (where the real selling happens). Start now if your aren't working these two together. 13. I always like to exceed expectations so here is your bonus 13th tip. Do create your own content. There is ths new enthusiasm around curating content in your social stream. It is a good trend, but it does not replace the need to create original content that leads back to YOU. When you curate you are driving traffic to someone else's site or channel. The best method is to intersperse the best content from others with your own. This makes you look like an experrt in two ways. I hope this list has stoked your thinking and made your recall some of your top Do's and Don'ts. Please share them below and let us get this conversation started. I want to be social with you.
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Kyle, Absolutely! It's a tool I picked up using really quickly and it's helpful. Thank you for creating it and being so responsive. Looking forward to using more of your tools in the future. Ian, You're very welcome! I hope you find it as useful as I do.
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Like the turtle in the fabled race with the rabbit my LinkedIn network has slowly grown to become my most significant. With more than 600 connections I’ve now exceeded the numbers on every other social network but Twitter, which is really a different animal. Last fall I decided to focus more attention on LinkedIn and grow my connections and commitment to the platform. This dovetailed nicely with LinkedIn’s own renewed commitment to making the network more attractive, useful and social. I’m now very satisfied with the power of my network and am nurturing it regularly to ensure it stays strong. To that end I’ve found a few power tools to make my LinkedIn experience more rewarding. I’d like to share them with you. Newsle I actually discovered this free tool from a friend. I’d issued a press release about an event I would be presenting at and soon received a congratulatory email from a friend. I wondered how she knew about it. She uses Newsle. This tool clues you in to any connections who are popping up in the news. It’s a good tool to stay on top of what’s happening with the movers and shakers in your network. SalesLoft This free tool sends you a daily email with information on who’s changed their headline or added/removed a job from their Profile. I realize LinkedIn has a similar notification service but I always found it to have too much information. The SalesLoft is short and to the point. I prefer it. This daily intelligence lets me know what top changes are happening in my network. Always good to know who’s on the move. Buffer This is a tool that you can use free or pay $10 a month for their Awesome plan, which is what I use. I feel it’s important to post something either helpful, inspirational or informational to my network each business day. I want to stay top of mind with my network and be seen as a giver in the areas in which I specialize. With Buffer I can schedule daily posts in advance. It’s a super simple tool to use and you get analytics to see how many people clicked on any links you posted. They do a good job of including pictures with posts, too. You can also use Buffer to schedule posts to LinkedIn Groups. Posting to Company Pages isn’t a feature yet, but I hope it will be in the near future as the team at Buffer is always improving the tool. LinkedIn Premium Admittedly this is not an outside tool and it does cost real money every month. I used to think it wasn’t all that important to have the ability to send a few InMails every month, but it’s quickly become essential. I now use InMail to connect with prospects for potential business as well as volunteer work I do with my local Rotary club. For example, I’m the Speaker Chair for my club and am always looking for great speakers for club meetings. I use InMail to directly approach someone who looks good, but I’m not connected to. It’s faster than trying to go through others in my network and if they don’t respond I get my InMail credit back. A win-win tool from LinkedIn that I probably won’t be giving up anytime soon. Having greater Profile visibility of those I’m not connected to is nice, too. If your LinkedIn network is becoming more important to you, then maybe it’s time you added a few tools to your quiver to power it up. If there’s a favorite tool you use that I didn’t mention would you please share it in the Comments? I’d love to hear about it.
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If you’re not sure what Klout is, it’s the leading social scoring platform as a way of measuring your influence online. It connects with just about every major social network but not Pinterest interestingly enough. Using a highly proprietary algorithm Klout looks at all your connected accounts to see how people are connecting with your posts. Are you being retweeted? Mentioned? Liked? Shared? +1’d? It’s all tracked and crunched to derive your ongoing score. Since I’m in to all the social stuff I set up a Klout account a while back. I’ve not paid too much attention to it as I agree with those who say that Klout misses the boat when it comes to people like Seth Godin who doesn’t use social media but obviously has a high degree of influence via his blog. Then there’s also the controversy around Justin Bieber having a higher Klout score than Barack Obama. According to Klout, online no one rules over Justin’s ability to move the masses. But don’t discount Klout completely. They also look at the content of your social posts to see what you’re influential about, aka your Topics. My top 3 are social media, business, and marketing. These are topics I feel I have some expertise in. Klout continues to refine their algorithm to be more accurate and I can see they are achieving that. So, how can Klout benefit you? Well, in a few ways: It’s an instant indicator of your heft in social media. Like it or not your score says something about your ability to make things happen online. It could help you get a job related to social media. Your prospective employer needs to use some outside information to know more about you and your Klout score might be relevant to them. You might win the respect of new followers by having a high score. By the way, 40 is considered a high score. You might get perks. I recently was awarded a one-day pass to an American Airlines lounge in one of 40 airports because I have a Klout score above 55. This is part of Klout’s new Perks program, which partners with brands to award people on Klout with high scores certain incentives. Of course, when we get those perks we tweet and post about them as I did when I got this one. Brands figure if they reward the right people they’ll get more exposure than if they rewarded just anyone. Why would Klout mean nothing to you? Well, for starters, you don’t need to be connected to Klout. It’s up to you. Next, your Klout score might get you some cool things, but it’s really your content, helpfulness, authentic knowledge and powerful network that gets things done, score or no score. This will always be the case. Thus, if you were influential before Klout, you’re probably still influential. When it comes to a room full of strangers though, we appreciate a little insight in to who’s who. Twitter is a really big room full of a lot of strangers. In that regard Klout could be a useful way to find people we’d like to connect with because we know they very well might have influence that could help us in some way. This is not to say that you shouldn’t connect with people with low scores. Indeed, Klout even recommends that you engage with everyone. It would be silly to do otherwise since it’s not a perfect system and some people who are newly online may have a strong network that Klout has no clue about…yet. If you’re active on social media, then I believe it’s worth your time to go to Klout and connect your accounts to see how you rank. Mark Schaefer wrote an interesting book on the subject of online influence entitled, Return On Influence. You’ll learn a lot more by reading it. At this point it looks like Klout is becoming more important, not less. Their influence is rising as more brands start partnering with them to find those people online who can move people by their posts. It's an efficient way to move people that move other people. They are also the leading metric in this area, which is a good position to be in. They've earned their seat at the social table and will be there for some time to come. Are you on Klout? What do you think of it? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the Comments.
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With Twitter celebrating its 7th birthday recently we can't really say social media is new anymore, but there are still plenty of businesses that haven't jumped on board consistently. In a recent post in this community by Solution Provider MyNewsGirl, she talks about why your business should use social media. She has an audience that needs to hear compelling messages like this to be convinced. There's a problem though with adoption and consistent execution of social media by small businesses and that's a palpable sense of overwhelm. The source of social media overwhelm I believe there are 4 main reasons why business people are overwhelmed by social media: 1. Lack of knowledge 2. Lack of a dedicated resource on the team 3. An uncertainty of what to say 4. Too many social networks, too little time Let's take these on one by one. The first issue is lack of knowledge. This is not a good reason to feel overwhelmed in my opinion because there is so much good and free education out there about social media. Constant Contact has a great Learning Center where you can get the knnowledge you need. I also recommend Social Media Examiner. Lack of a Dedicated Resource The second issue is not having a dedicated resource on the team. This is a legitimate problem. If you're a business of one or two without a dedicated marketing person, then you can only find the time by either becoming more efficient or eliminating something you do that doesn't contribute in a meaningful way. Social media does take time to be done well. I don't gloss over that fact with people. However, if you are creating content on a blog or producing an email newsletter, then finding the time for social media does make good sense because it can drive traffic to those vehicles. Here's one idea to find the time. First, keep a log for two weeks of what you spend your time doing each day. Somewhere in there you'll find an activity you can decrease, eliminate, delegate or outsource. Dedicate that found time to social media. Uncertainty Around What To Say The third issue is an uncertainty around what to say. Well, there are lots of ideas around this such as create lists of your top tips to help people with your expertise, write answers to questions you get from clients, teach people how to do something well in your field and so on. I recently wrote a post on creating a social content strategy that may help you here, too. Too Many Networks, Too LIttle Time I have no idea how many social networks there are. What I do know is there are too many for anyone to take on. In fact I see a clear shift in 2013 away from trying to be everywhere at once and rather focusing on what works in the right places where your clients and prospects are. Here's a short video entitled Focused Social Networking Is Key where I expand on this topic a bit. The bottom line is that you should not be overwhelmed by social media. Yes, there are common reasons why this happens, but there are solutions to those issues and many businesses are making it work. Move past the overwhelm and find the benefits for your business. Do you have questions related to any of the four issues? Please post them below.
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There are so many reasons for businesses to jump on board social media. One great reason in addition to the ones you've shared is to use social media is to build your email list. When you share links to the content that you've created on social networks, the people who click on them will come to your website and will, hopefully, be invited to join your list to be notified of more great content or special offers down the road.
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On March 20, 2013 YouTube announced on their blog that they had hit 1 billion unique users per month. That’s roughly 1 out of every 2 people on the internet. In case you thought Facebook was bigger than YouTube, think again. If you think you don’t need a YouTube strategy, think again. I truly believe that small businesses are vastly under-utilizing YouTube as a tool for presenting their business. I think it’s because small business people believe these statements: Video is expensive Video doesn’t have enough ROI to justify the expense Video needs to be professionally produces, which makes it expensive No one will watch my video(s) I have no idea what to put on a video I cannot present on video The fact is that all those above statements are true for some people, some of the time. They are not true for all people, all of the time. These days our smartphones are capable of producing a video that can be uploaded immediately to YouTube. I know one person who records golf videos with his iPhone, edits them on the device, then uploads them straight to YouTube. Yes, you can hire a professional. I have numerous times. But I’ve also posted videos taken with a webcam or a Flip (remember those?). I am a trained communicator, which makes it easier for me to be on camera, but you don’t need to be a pro. You can create slideshows and do voiceovers instead. If you wanted to get fancy in terms of creating your own videos I’d recommend investing $300 in to a decent portable video camera, which is loads better than the $500 units just a few years ago. Then, get a tripod and some basic lighting (recommendations are easily found on the internet), start shooting and uploading. Break the ice and you’ll find it’s not as difficult as you once thought. You’ll probably also find that you don’t need to be as slick as you think to get viewers. Ideas for B2C Businesses Every business that caters to retail customers can post a video every week with updates on special offers, new releases, one of a kind items, and sales. This video could be posted to YouTube, then linked to from your website, newsletter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. You could even text the link to a list. Yes, you can be a broadcast advertiser on YouTube. Statistics for B2B Businesses If you are in a B2B business take a look at this infographic on Social Media Today’s blog that has some compelling stats about video. Don’t these make you think it’s time to get started? Stop thinking of all the impediments to getting started with video and start thinking about all your competitors who are talking themselves out of it. I did and now have 50+ videos and more than 5,000 views of my Channel . That might not seem like much compared to Psy and the Harlem Shake, but it’s helped me with my business. I regularly get compliments on my videos and people say they feel they know me better. Know is an important element of sales success. How I Use Video I use videos I’ve recorded as bonuses for event attendees, ongoing client education, sales messages and alternatives to text blogs. When I’m pinched for time and need to blog I just post a video and write a little something around it. Works great. And this is because video viewership is on the rise and just keeps getting stronger. Soon, if not already, video views online will surpass that of television. The upshot of this post is this: If you are still holding out on joining the video revolution from the presenter’s side, now is the time to start. Don’t wait any longer. If you have questions about video and how I’ve used it, please post your comments below.
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Such an important idea for small businesses. One of my favorite books on the subject is Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout. It's an excellent guide to all the different ways a business can differentiate itself or particular products or services from the competition. As you point out it has to be more than general statements about service and quality. It's one of the essential keys to becoming a bigger busines, isn't it? Thanks for the post.
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Heidi, Hi. You're absolutely right. LinkedIn has undergone numerous changes since I posted this article. This is the blessing and the curse of social media. Just when you think you have a winning formula it all changes. That said there are still tips in the list which will work for the diligent person. Thanks for your comments!
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Content is king. Content is king. If you hear this one more time you’re going to scream, right? Well, it’s overly repeated, but the point shouldn’t be lost on you. Content marketing is happening at full speed and you need to be in the game if you want eyeballs online. So, if you don’t have a social media content marketing strategy what are you going to do? How about a simple 5-step plan to follow? No heavy data, no big charts, no grids to fill in. Just follow this simple plan to get started. And that’s the best thing you can do: Get started. Your first step is Who. Who will create the content that you’ll share? You? Someone who works for you? A professional writer? Or will it be a trusted resource and you’ll just procure it and share it? Ideally the content will be yours since ultimately you want to house the content on your website. The big point of a content marketing strategy is to drive a steady stream of traffic to your website. Thus, even if you have to pay a professional writer to help you create your content that’s probably a better investment than sharing content created by someone else. Now, that’s not to say you shouldn’t intersperse great content with yours. That’s smart. Your second step is What. What will you be creating? A blog post? A video? A video blog? A podcast? Infographics? E-books? White papers? Photos? Slide decks? Content comes in all shapes and sizes these days and it’s really important that you think about what your content will look like. My best recommendation is to mix it up. Create as many types of content as you can to keep people guessing. Variety is the spice of a content marketing strategy. Just be sure to stay in line with your core strength whether it be sushi or sales training. Your third step is When. When are you going to share your content? Daily? Two times a week? Weekdays? Weekends? Think about when your audience is likely to be online and could process your content. After you’ve shared it initially you’ll certainly want to share it again and again over time. You can get a lot of mileage out of valuable content. That is if you take the time to make it really good. Always push yourself to make free content that helps people and passes the, “Would I share this test”. Don’t think that because it’s free it’s okay that it’s not that good. Your fourth step is Where. Where will your content reside? Where will it be shared? The perfect scenario is your blog, newsletter, then your social networks. Once you’ve gone to the effort to create that valuable content you should re-purpose it in to a newsletter article and a series of tweets or even short videos on YouTube. When it comes to the social network phase, think beyond the big three of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and think of SlideShare, Google+ and Pinterest. Even iTunes and Scribd. All of these places are generating serious traffic and are worth a look if you have the right content. Your fifth step is Why. Why does the world need your blog? Why does YouTube need yet another video? Why should anyone care about your content? Why is a tough question to ask yourself lest you get a little discouraged when you consider how much content is populating the internet daily. But, look at it this way, isn’t there always room at the top? It’s true that the world doesn’t need more lousy blog posts that are simply trying to stuff keywords and drive affiliate traffic, but there will always be people who have time to be educated by an expert on a subject that helps them save time, money or be more productive and successful. My rule of thumb is this: Be a little uncomfortable with what you are sharing. Believe that you could actually sell this content to your target market and you’ll be on the right track. That’s what gets read and shared today. I hope this simple process helps get you started with your content marketing strategy. Please let me know in the Comments what your thoughts are or share links to your great content of all shapes and sizes online. I’d love to see it.
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Yesterday I was hanging out on Twitter with no specific purpose in mind. It’s how I surf the web. Just riding the stream and looking for interesting tweets. Then, I came across a tweet with the hashtag #blogchat. I immediately recognized it as a Tweet Chat. So, I went up to my search bar and entered in the term #blogchat to start the scrolling tweets from the chat. If you’ve never participated in a Tweet Chat before then you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s like driving in the fast lane on Twitter with a group. Let’s face it, Twitter can be one of the noisiest and loneliest places on the net. It’s a paradox. Although there are so many people there it can often seem like nobody’s listening. Along came the Tweet Chat. With Tweet Chats a group of people dedicate an hour to either focused discussion with actual questions and answers or a free flowing discussion simply focused on the general topic. In the case of #blogchat it’s mostly about blogging. There’s also #MMchat, which is Marketer Monday. Lots of smart marketers get on Twitter to hash out (pun intended) discussions on this tool, that tactic and trends. This chat’s so dialed in that they have special guests and offer transcripts online. #getrealchat has been going for two years and #dadchat recently reached what may be a world record for the number of impressions created in a 48-hour period on Twitter. It's written about here. In the half an hour or so I spent on the #blogchat I had several interesting conversations and met new people that I’m now following and have followed me. I also found a person to refer to another person on Twitter as I thought the two of them should know each other. I also discovered that you can use Tweet Chats to sell. That’s right! Anytime you get a lot of people together you just might have a selling opportunity on your hands. During the #blogchat a leader of the group mentioned that something special was coming in 5 minutes. After that he tweeted the below. This is one way to get an ROI out of the major effort that goes in to leading a weekly Tweet Chat. The other way is to build up a network of like minded people and reinforce relationships for future opportunities to share, support and benefit. Lastly, you can learn a lot as I did in just a few short minutes. If you’re starting to think that Tweet Chats may be to Twitter what active groups are to LinkedIn, you’re on the right track. Engagement, relationships, learning, promotion, consistency. It’s all there. Let me know if you have had experiences with Tweet Chats that you’d like to share. I’m also here to answer questions you might have.
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Dear BuyGifts.com, You're welcome! It's true that most newsletter creators don't think to drop a video in there to change things up. Your idea to place a video of a Singing Seal sounds hilarious and surely should get more attention than just the written word. Hope it works well for you!
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To Julie, Dale and Marie, I'm glad this post is helpful to you. Yelp really can be a good resource when you know the ins and outs of it. Please share the article with your networks along with the companion post, Part 1. Thank you!
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Are you a consistent email marketer looking for new ways to spice up your newsletters? Are you open to trying some new ideas? Then read on for my best 3 tips you can use now to present your readers with something a little different the next time around.
As background on me, I've been using email marketing by Constant Contact for 3+ years now. I typically send out one newsletter a month and it's an informational newsletter. If you're not sure what I mean by Informational, check out this quick video on Email Engagement. You'll learn about the 3 types of email newsletters.
I enjoy on average a 30% open rate, which isn't a number for the record books, but it's respectable. Okay, enough about me, here are the 3 ideas for you.
Tip #1: Embed video in your newsletter. In my last newsletter I inserted 3 videos! That's the most I've ever done. One of my regular readers told me how impresed he was by the amount of video content. Two of the videos were educational while one was promotional. Embedding videos right inline with your content breaks up your copy, creates visual interest, and gives you the opportunity to get more information across in less time.
Also, keep in mind that some people are visual learners. They actually would prefer to watch a video versus read straight text. If you're intimidated by the work entailed to create a video you have a few simple options:
1. Use Camtasia and simply record your screen or a PowerPoint with your voice over a USB mic.
2. Use an HD webcam and record yourself in your office. My first forays in to video were really low budget and people still iked them.
3. Record any live presentations you give and create snippets from them that make certain points. Write articles around those points. I did something like that with the first video in my last newsletter.
Tip #2 - Go to your social media analytics and see what is trending in the content you've shared. Then, write about it. I use Buffer and HootSuite to make my use of social media more efficient. Recently I took 20 minutes to go back through my last month of posts I issued through Buffer on to Twitter and LinkedIn.
What I saw was very interesting. There were clearly some posts that were more popular than others; and they weren't necessarily mine. For example, I shared an article on a recent court ruling in Virginia regarding a woman's comments placed about a contractor on Yelp. The case went all the way to the Supreme court and was being closely watched. This post got 8 click-throughs on LinkedIn and 11 on Twitter. For me these are good numbers.
What this tells me is that what happens to negative reviews on Yelp is an interesting topic to business people. I know that sounds like an obvious point, but think about what this means for your next newsletter. You could share this post, then write an article about it knowing that many are likely to want to read it and they'll possibly share it, too. Bottom line, look at what's trending and write about it.
Tip #3: Give something away to readers who actually read your content. At the end of the year I like to give out a few magazine subscriptions to some of my favorite business building magazines like Success and Inc. I tell readers somewhere in the body of my newsletter that they can get a free subscription, but they'll have to write me first to claim it.
This achieves a few objectives:
1. It makes your newsletter funner to read
2. It makes people want to read your next one in case you do it again
3. It lets you know that people really are reading your newsletter and taking action, which feels good
Since you've read this post all the way to the end, I have a little something for you. No, not a free subscription, but a bonus tip! Always underpromise and overdeliver.
Tip #4: Create a theme based newsletter. Some time back I scoured the quotes of Henry Ford, a pioneer of American business. I found 3 or 4 choice quotes and made them the basis of original articles. This wasn't easy, but it felt like I was breaking new ground. I recall that a few people took notice and really liked the theme. It showed that I was creative and took great pleasure and pride in creating my newsletter. It wasn't jsut something slapped together to try to make a few bucks.
In the end that's what your readers will really appreciate is your creativity and willingness to stretch yourself. Let me know what you think of these ideas in the Comments and share some of your own. I'd love to try what tactics have worked for you.
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I agree with you that your passion imbued in to your social media activity will shine through and attract people. My channel is all about small business growth strategies through sales and marketing for the most part. I find that after a few years people know me and expect this content and like it. If I were to share just one way to be successful with social media it would be to remain consistently creative. I think without creativity it's just too difficult to get above the noise, which is formidable. There were more than one million tweets about the inauguration. That gives you an idea of the type of noise that's being created now. Unless you're different, you're toast imho.
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There are online events and then there are offline events. But what about offline events with an online component? Would that be the best of both worlds for you? Would that allow those who can’t physically make it to still make it and benefit? This might not work for all the offline events you do, but I’m willing to bet that if you hold events regularly there are some that should have an online component. But how can you combine an offline event with social media? Not on LinkedIn. They dropped their event section recently. Not on Facebook. They haven’t revamped their Event feature in a very long time and there are no existing features to bring an offline event on to Facebook in an easy way. Not on Twitter either since it’s just not that kind of platform. How about Google +? Now there’s a social network that has some novel features designed to bring your live events online. You’ll start by creating an event on Google +. You do need an account to do that so you may as well get started on this social network that already has millions of people on it. You might be surprised who you’ll find on there that you already know. Anyway, you can see in the photo below the Event Creation box. Now when you create the event you need to decide then if you’re going to make it an event On Air. That means you’ll have a live video feed of the event running through Google + “On Air”. This means the public can find and view the event. So, if you’re selling tickets and don’t want to share the event with anyone, you wouldn’t want to select this option. Note that you need to select the On Air option when you originally create the event. You can’t add it later. You also have the option of making it purely an online event, which would be a Hangout. In the picture below you can see the options for making your event a Hangout or an On Air event. Those are the video options. You also have photo options to choose from. You can allow others to post pictures of the event on the Event page and anyone can +1 them, which is a Google+ action of Liking something. What I really like is the ability to stream photos from the live event to the online event page. This is called Party Mode and you can learn more about it and watch a few videos on it here. Let’s say you’re holding a very special event like a product launch. There may be famous people there, important speeches, and great product shots you want to share. Snap away and have the photos post immediately to the Google+ event page. Recruit a few attendees to do the same and you’ll have a vibrant and fun online component. You can even add photos to the Event album after the event concludes. What’s great is that all the photos are uploaded to the same space and can be sorted by who took them. Now you do need to be snapping the photos (and the video in the earlier section) with a Google+ connected device with a robust internet connection. Just want to make sure that’s clear. I believe Google+ and Events are better together and these features are available now. If you want to wow your physical and virtual attendees of your next event with something new and novel, I suggest you start by creating your event on Google+. Please post your questions and comments below.
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Yes, you're right about the Groups on LinkedIn. The active ones have a lot of discussion going back and forth and the nice thing for members is that their posts will have a longer shelf life than in the standard Updates field. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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Amidst the hustle and bustle of the holiday season we contemplate the year ahead and optimistically imagine ourselves as the best we can be. Why not give yourself a real shot at greatness by being your most productive? Here are 5 proven ways to do just that. Follow the 2-minute rule. I first learned of this from productivity guru David Allen. Whatever comes your way, if you can take care of it in 2 minutes or less, do it right then. This includes a thought crossing your mind about something you need to do. Don’t let it fly by. Putting it off will end up costing you much more time and chew up valuable mental energy. It also includes tasks like putting someone’s phone number or email in to your smartphone as soon as you get their real or virtual card. I met with a client recently who told me that following this one rule had put her on a more productive trajectory. It’s a catalyst to do more in less time. Create your daily list of key To-Do’s. May 2013 be a year when you’re never sitting around wondering what to do. You should always pull out your list and consult it as your guide. I’m done with forgetting important things or putting them off until the end of the day. Chet Holmes recommends no more than 6 items be put on your list and that each one be important with time blocked on your calendar to ensure they’re handled. If you take your daily list to this level, then you can’t help but be powerful every day. Don’t be a slave to your email. As the sales numbers for smartphones go through the roof the reality is that more and more people are becoming enslaved by the new email notification that appears on the phone’s home screen. This is not the way to be productive! I know that a few of my contacts have an auto-reply that says they look at email but a few times a day and you should attempt to call them if it’s urgent. Others will turn off their email during intense get work done periods so there can be no distraction. Think of it like this: Nobody who gets massive work done in a short amount of time is checking their email regularly. It can’t be done since you’ll lose your mental flow and time will slip through your fingers like sand in an hourglass. One more tip on email that Chet mentioned in his awesome book, The Ultimate Sales Machine, don’t look at an email if you aren’t prepared to deal with it right then and there. Makes sense doesn’t it? But do you honor that? Remember the 2-minute rule. Act like you’re going on vacation tomorrow. When I listened to Robert Allen’s Multiple Streams of Income program many years ago I learned much from it. What I remember that pertains to this topic is that you should consider how you work on the day before a one-week vacation. Aren’t you on fire that day getting things done like there’s no tomorrow? Exactly! Why only save this sort of productivity for those few times a year (or decade if you’re a small business owner). Here’s the technique Robert recommends: Work your tail off for 50 minutes. Then take 10 minutes off to do whatever you want. Make a call to a friend, look at Facebook, have a snack, whatever. Then, at the top of the next hour go to work again like you mean it. Don’t over commit. For many there seems to be a badge of honor associated with being overloaded. We’re constantly asked to do more and more and we accept knowing that we probably don’t have the time to do it, but somehow we’ll just make it work. In a related blog post I ask readers to try under-commitment for a change. In my mind this is the way to do your best work. Our minds need time to rest and recharge. When we have slack time in our week, we can actually sit down and think. Remember that? Productivity and creativity go together. Have time in your schedule to take walks; to sit on a park bench; to gaze out the window and watch rain fall; or sit in your favorite chair in your library and just think. The more you think the more you’ll get clear on how to handle the inevitable challenges that come your way. You will generate solutions instead of anxiety. If you have too much to do this valuable productivity tool will be untapped. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is full of proven gems. If you follow these rules as the new year dawns you will find yourself to be more productive than ever. I’d love to hear what your favorite rules for maximizing your productivity are. Please post them below as well as your comments on mine.
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Many people use LinkedIn because they want the world to know that they are an expert in their chosen field. Is that why you use LinkedIn? If so, then read on for my 13-step guide to looking like an expert on your Profile. Step 1 is to edit your tagline to clearly promote yourself. Don’t just go for your job title, which is what LinkedIn will give you by default. Instead edit it and use some keywords that highlight your expertise. Just click the edit button next to your name and you can update your tagline. Step 2 is to write a real Summary that explains what you’re darn good at. Take the time to explain what you do in a clear and concise fashion that makes a strong case for your talent. What have you done that’s magnificent? Yes, that could go in to your Awards or Achievements section, but this section is where people look first. Step 3 is to flesh out descriptions of your Experience. Many will simply list out their past few jobs without writing anything about what they do or did at them. Be different. Lay out key responsibilities and projects that show you do what you want people to know you for. Step 4 is to list Certifications that matter. If you’re an expert in your field, then it would be fitting that you’ve been certified by a credible authority. Be sure to list a few that support your continuous learning. Step 5 is to note your Education and list out any subjects that are in your field. Step 6 is to add the Amazon Reading List app and show that you’re constantly reading books in your field. Be sure to note that you’ve read them and aren’t just reading them. Step 7 is to add SlideShare presentations app and post up some public decks that give a strong indication that you know your stuff. Share some really good info on the slides and people will not only be impressed but they’ll download them. Step 8 is to add Skills and Expertise and, hopefully, the Endorsements will flow in. If not, then you might actually hint to some of those Connections who know you’re an Expert that it would be appreciate if they endorsed you. Step 9 is, you guessed it, ask for Recommendations from those who’ve done business with you in your field of expertise. Hopefully, they could use some of your best keywords in their write-ups. Getting winded yet? We’ve got 4 more steps to go. Hang in there, expert! Step 10 is to link your Blog to your Profile and post to it regularly with juicy content that convinces people you are the real deal. Be sure to teach and don’t promote. Step 11 is to go to LinkedIn’s Answers section and start answering questions in areas that are directly related to your field. Be really thoughtful and comprehensive in your replies again and again. As long as you’re answering questions you really know something about you should eventually get the nod from the person who posted the question as having provided the Best Answer. Do this and you’ll get this nice badge on your Profile. Step 12 is to add some Honors and Awards. You do have some, right? Step 13 is to post up Events where you’ll be teaching on a topic that’s right up your alley. Showing that you’re a speaker makes for a nice impression. Now I tell those in my classes that you don’t have to do all 13 steps to look like an expert, but if you will employ a majority of them you’ll go a long way towards achieving the goal. If you have any tips to add, please post them below!
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Pieter, Thank you for your positive comments. I'm really glad to hear this post was helpful to you. Feel free to click the Star button if you'd like to encourage me to write further articles like these and call out this post to the Community.
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